Most prices were rangebound on Thursday December 19, with wide price ranges continuing to persist due to the approaching Christmas and New Years’ downtime.

Ruminant meat and bonemeal continued to indicate price pressure with a low of $175 per short ton on the Missouri River, dropping the range to $180-290 per ton.

November commercial cattle, hog slaughter
Commercial cattle slaughter for November was at 2.57 million head, based on the USDA’s Livestock Slaughter report released on Thursday. This was down by 5.84% year on year and by 10.15% month on month.

Year-to-date cattle slaughter through November 2024 totaled 29.29 million head, down by 3.15% from the corresponding period in 2023 and below the three-year average by 5.40%, or 1.67 million head, for the respective period.

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